www.saveptfarmers.org
The farming towns of Doduri and Daechuri will never reap their famous rice harvests again, if the United States military continues with the planned expansion of its Camp Humphreys Army base. This concentration of U.S. troops in the Pyeongtaek region of South Korea will destroy the farming communities of Daechuri, Doduri, and others. Over 500 households and thousands of residents live within the zoned areas.The rice farmers have chosen to resist the occupation of their homeland and stand up to the Korean government and the United States military. Facing the imminent onslaught of bulldozers, riot police, and two nation's militaries, the farmers of Pyeongtaek have decided to risk imprisionment and death before they will willingly surrender their homes and their way of life. These peaceful villagers have fought the expansion of the base and the theft of their land through all possible legal means while being deceived and ignored.On February 7th, 2006, the farmers, having realized that the Korean government was not listening to their pleas and would not help them, declared autonomy and renounced their Korean citizenship. They have since been organizing the daily life and the defense of their land and community independently of the local government. In March, Korean police and army launched a series of violent attacks on the villages, ripping up rice fields and destroying their irrigation system. In May a massive police and military attack managed to fence off villagers' fields with razor wire. Police also destroyed a local elementary school that had been converted into a museum and community center. Riot police officers, soldiers, and hired thugs beat and arrested hundreds of villagers and supporters, including village leader Kim Ji-tae. Both Amnesty International and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (a government oversight body) denounced the arrests and the violence against villagers.Since the May attack, Korean soldiers and police have maintained a permanent occupation of most of the fields, preventing village residents from planting and harvesting their crops. Police have established permanent checkpoints on the roads to the villages. Residents must present their ID cards in order to enter, and supporters are often turned back at the checkpoints.During the most recent attack, on September 13, thousands of riot police invaded and occupied the villages. Police demolition equipment managed to wipe out more than 60 empty houses, the “Human Rights House,” and a few houses occupied by supporters. The vastly outnumbered villagers and supporters did everything possible to stop the police attack. By scaling the roofs of houses slated for demolition, they managed to stop the police from destroying many of the houses that the Ministry of Defense had threatened to destroy.The Pyeongtaek villagers have reaffirmed their resistance to the base at the nightly candlelight vigils, now in their third year. As the Ministry of Defense's threaten imminent eviction, villagers continue to work in their gardens, harvest the few rice fields that haven't been fenced off with razor wire, and organize the defense of their land. Villagers hope that their resistance on the ground, the continued support of Korean social movements, and solidarity from abroad will be enough to stop the base expansion and save their land.
...so the imperalist power continues.....
They want to wipe out this community of people, whos been on this land for generations,
to make their Military Base Bigger - with a whole self contained Community within with malls and etc.... The land is for the people who lives there, not for some factions to come by and take. That sound like a Occupation to me. sorta like what the Isra.... are doing to the Palest....
So i briefly mentioned it to my older family members... I was disapointed to hear that some of them thought that making the Base bigger was a better idea, because of the war/threat...and that displacing some of their own people was justifiable because it will lead to more safety for the whole .... HUH... what Threat! what War! was my answer... and thats Our People... we need to protect our people first!... I could see that the Brain Washing is really deep in our elders.........
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!
